Flight etiquette?!

peachyprice

Royal Brunei are usually very good at giving lone women travellers a seat in a row by themselves (assuming you are a laydee OP), so even if you have a seat booked with someone else in your row, especially a man, they're quite likely to ask you of you want to move and should be accommodating if you do ask.

This is one of the reasons my mum (70+yo) prefers to use them when she flies to Australia alone, they look after her very well.

mgdavid

maisonette wrote: »

Oh yes, aisle seat is already reserved - the thought of sitting by the window, or even worse in the middle, for the whole flight makes me shudder!

excellent, as I always go for a window seat so I can get my head down for a good long undisturbed kip once the meal service is over.

dickydonkin

Why don't you keep your original seat but as soon as you sit down, grab the barf bag, open it and place your head downwards as though its use will be imminent.

I suspect that the person(s)who have been allocated seats in your selected row will not desire the prospect of witnessing or coming into contact with your regurgitated breakfast and will hopefully move when allowed to do so - removing the problem of you having to race to an empty row after take off.

Once everyone is settled, then you can return your barf bag and enjoy your in flight meal!

quidsy

We travel long haul with 2 adults & a child, we always get a set of 3 seats together but as soon as we board I ask the steward/ess if they can let us know of any "spare" rows so that one of us can move so our son can lay down to sleep. They have always accommodated us or let us know the flight was full. They have always let one of us move before take off.

alisonofagun

You could always ask at check-in to be given the middle seat on an empty row if there are any - I've done this a few times (albeit with Emirates) and almost always ended up being able to lie down and sleep the entire flight

I have come to realise that the etiquette on long haul flights is that there is no etiquette - definitely a case of you snooze, you lose where empty rows are concerned!

Everynamestaken

If there are so many empty seats, you can always ask at check in to be upgraded to first class.
If no, you could ask the flight attendants as soon as you board the plane.

I always make sure I try and board the plane last so I know exactly where I can sit.

If the seats are free, you can sit in them. I have often laid across all 4 seats in the middle.
I once went to the toilet with my tray left up, and when I came back a couple were there laid across all seats.

They were politely told to move :beer:

shaun_from_Africa

One of the best/sneakiest ploys I've every seen was used by an ex workmate.

When bording was going on, he never used to get on when his seat row was called, instead of which he used to hang about in the departure area.
Once everyone else was on board and they gave the "last and final call for passengers on flight XXX, gate closing in 1 minute" announcment, he would then get on to the aircraft knowing that there was no one else behind him.
He would then look for empty rows and simply sit in one of these knowing that it it was extremely unlikely that he would be asked to move.

Personally, I don't have the brass neck to try that but I always ask the cabin crew if I can move once everyone's on board, and they generally don't have a problem with this.

InsideInsurance

Never had any issues with sitting in spare seats and certainly seen people ask and move prior to take off. I wouldnt buy the "weight distribution" as at no point do they ask peoples weight and an over weight couple could easily weigh more than a family with small kids so how do they factor that in?

Personally I've tended to ask but there are plenty who just do it themselves. The last two times I've flown others had nabbed our seats as they were a group who'd been broken up. Its best to do what others say though and board last to do this but then you have a higher risk of not fitting your luggage in the overheads if you are maxing out your allowance

Mands

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I wouldnt buy the "weight distribution" as at no point do they ask peoples weight and an over weight couple could easily weigh more than a family with small kids so how do they factor that in?

The airlines assign a pre-determined weight to adults and children and distribute weight accordingly.

Which is how a Qantas plane got into difficulties when someone gave a group of 87 children adult weights in error.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/03/qantas-flight-struggles-to-take-off-as-child-passengers-tip-balance

A Qantas Boeing 737 flight from Canberra to Perth had a “nose-heavy” take-off after more than half of the passengers were assigned the incorrect weight.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said in a report released on Wednesday that 87 primary school children on the flight on 9 May had been assigned the standard adult weight of 87kg during check-in.

The flight was also carrying 63 adult passengers and crew.

With the children seated together at the rear of the cabin, the aircraft appeared nose-heavy during take-off, forcing the captain to apply significant back pressure to achieve lift-off from the runway.

Too much back pressure could have caused the aircraft tail to strike the runway, but the captain managed to ease the aircraft into the air.

dickydonkin

Everynamestaken wrote: »

If there are so many empty seats, you can always ask at check in to be upgraded to first class.

:rotfl::rotfl: That just isn't going to happen - besides, I don't think Royal Brunei have a first class cabin.

If no, you could ask the flight attendants as soon as you board the plane.

:rotfl::rotfl: Again, just isn't going to happen.

I always make sure I try and board the plane last so I know exactly where I can sit.

You should be sitting in your allocated seat once boarded.

If the seats are free, you can sit in them. I have often laid across all 4 seats in the middle.
I once went to the toilet with my tray left up, and when I came back a couple were there laid across all seats.

They were politely told to move :beer:

You must be a flight attendants nightmare.